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Summary

This unique book is an exploration of critical thinking, rather than a text of informal logic. It emphasizes a philosophical reflection on real issues from everyday life, in order to teach readers the skills of critical thinking in a common-place context that is easy to understand and certain to be remembered.Critical thinking topics are assembled in readings taken from sources including newspapers, literature, magazines, and philosophy. These readings compliment the important concepts of critical thinking, and provide information on background knowledge, the web of belief, the limits of evidence, the nature of proof, and dogmatism and relativism.For critical thinkers who need something to think critically about, and are willing to see more than just two sides to every argument.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Second Edition

xiii

Preface to the First Edition

xv

Acknowledgments

xvii

PART I: CONNECTIONS

Why Be Rational?

1

(28)

Open Dialogue and the Importance of Rationality

1

(16)

Euthyphro

4

(13)

Plato

Study Questions

17

(1)

Reason and Culture

17

(8)

Why the Geese Shrieked

19

(3)

Isaac Bashevis Singer

The Shaman and the Dying Scientist: A Brazilian Tale

22

(2)

Alan Riding

Study Questions

24

(1)

The Limits of Reason

25

(2)

Summary

27

(1)

Exercises

28

(1)

Language

29

(21)

The Uses of Language

29

(1)

Language and the World

30

(7)

The Corner of the Eye

33

(2)

Lewis Thomas

Eight Little Piggies

35

(2)

Stephen Jay Gould

Study Questions

37

(1)

Words and Statements

37

(2)

Warranted Statements

39

(5)

The Making of Americans

41

(2)

Gertrude Stein

Study Questions

43

(1)

Factual Statements

44

(1)

Summary

45

(1)

Exercises

46

(4)

Knowledge and Certainty

50

(15)

Knowledge and Certainty

50

(9)

Meditations on First Philosophy

55

(3)

Rene Descartes

A Brief History of Time

58

(1)

Stephen Hawking

Study Questions

58

(1)

The Web of Belief

59

(4)

Double Identity

61

(1)

Michael Dobbs

Study Questions

62

(1)

Summary

63

(1)

Exercises

63

(2)

Arguments and Explanations

65

(30)

Arguments: Premises and Conclusions

65

(2)

Implicit Premises and Conclusions

67

(1)

Arguments: Standard Form

68

(1)

Logical Warranting

69

(1)

Deductive Reasoning

70

(1)

Inductive Reasoning

71

(1)

Factual Warranting

72

(5)

The Decameron: Michele Scalza

75

(2)

Giovanni Boccaccio

The Decameron: Melchizedek

77

(2)

Giovanni Boccaccio

Study Questions

78

(1)

Explanations

79

(12)

The Day-Care Deaths: A Mystery

82

(9)

Linda Herskowitz

Study Questions

91

(1)

Summary

91

(1)

Exercises

92

(3)

PART II: DEDUCTIVE REASONING

Deductive Links

95

(10)

Reasoning with Necessity

95

(5)

Dissenting Opinion in Gregg v. Georgia

96

(3)

Thurgood Marshall

Study Questions

99

(1)

Validity and Logical Implication

100

(3)

Summary

103

(1)

Exercises

104

(1)

Deductive Standards

105

(20)

Logic

105

(1)

Some Common Valid Arguments

106

(12)

Anselm's Ontological Argument

117

(1)

Norman Malcolm

Study Questions

117

(1)

Anselm's Ontological Argument

118

(3)

Summary

121

(1)

Exercises

122

(3)

PART III: INDUCTIVE REASONING

Supporting Our Claims

125

(57)

Evidence: Traces and Background Knowledge

125

(41)

The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier

130

(9)

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The William Bradfield Case

139

(1)

Murder on the Main Line

139

(17)

Mike Mallowe

Coded Bradfield Note: ``My Danger Conspiracy''

156

(3)

Emilie Lounsberry

The Jury: Convinced or Confused?

159

(2)

Emilie Lounsberry

Henry Goldman

Bradfield, on Stand, Denies Any Role

161

(3)

Emilie Lounsberry

Bradfield and Women

164

(2)

Henry Goldman

Study Questions

166

(1)

Webs of Belief: Confirmation and Proof

166

(14)

The Warren Commission: Why We Still Don't Believe It

169

(6)

David W. Belin

Conclusion to ``The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier''

175

(4)

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Study Questions

179

(1)

Summary

180

(1)

Exercises

181

(1)

Standards of Inductive Reasoning

182

(50)

Patterns

182

(7)

Doctors As Detectives

185

(4)

Cynthia Clendenon

Study Questions

189

(1)

Generalizations

189

(20)

The Literary Digest Predicts Victory by Landon, 1936

196

(1)

``Digest'' Poll Machinery Speeding Up

196

(2)

``Digest's'' First Hundred Thousand

198

(2)

Landon Holds Lead in ``Digest'' Poll

200

(1)

Landon, 1,293,669; Roosevelt, 972,897

201

(4)

What Went Wrong with the Polls?

205

(3)

Study Questions

208

(1)

Analogies

209

(7)

Thy Countenance Shakes Spears

212

(4)

Mark K. Anderson

Study Questions

216

(1)

Causal Claims

216

(12)

So Smoking Causes Cancer: This Is News?

225

(1)

Denise Grady

Renewing Philosophy

226

(2)

Hilary Putnam

Study Questions

228

(1)

Summary

228

(2)

Exercises

230

(2)

Fallacies

232

(32)

The Nature of Fallacies

232

(2)

Fallacies of Irrelevance

234

(8)

Lost Genius

240

(1)

Russell Baker

Study Questions

241

(1)

Fallacies of Faulty Generalization

242

(10)

Love Is a Fallacy

245

(7)

Max Shulman

Study Questions

252

(1)

Fallacies of Emotional Manipulation

252

(3)

The Sleaze Merchants Attack

254

(1)

Study Questions

255

(1)

Summary

255

(2)

Exercises

257

(7)

Scientific Reasoning

264

(25)

Science and Good Reasoning

264

(1)

Copernicus and Kepler

265

(17)

The Heliocentric Theory of Copernicus and Kepler

269

(12)

Morris Kline

Study Questions

281

(1)

Hypothetical-Deductive Reasoning

282

(4)

Summary

286

(1)

Exercises

287

(2)

Pseudoscience

289

(14)

Distinguishing Science from Pseudoscience

289

(10)

Fliess, Freud, and Biorhythm

293

(6)

Martin Gardner

Study Questions

299

(1)

Summary

299

(1)

Exercises

300

(3)

PART IV: REASONING ABOUT VALUES

The Nature of Morality

303

(16)

Supporting Moral Claims

303

(8)

The Brothers Karamazov

310

(1)

Feodor Dostoevsky

Study Questions

310

(1)

Morality and Reasoning

311

(5)

Summary

316

(1)

Exercises

317

(2)

Reasoning About Good and Bad

319

(21)

Making Moral Decisions

319

(3)

Reasonable Objectivism and Reasonable Subjectivism

322

(7)

Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals

323

(4)

Immanuel Kant

Existentialism Is a Humanism

327

(2)

Jean Paul Sartre

Study Questions

329

(1)

Kant

329

(4)

Sartre

333

(4)

Summary

337

(1)

Exercises

338

(2)

Moral Dialogue

340

(15)

Dogmatism/Relativism

340

(9)

Euthyphro

344

(4)

Plato

Classroom Scene

348

(1)

Study Questions

348

(1)

Moderation as Key

349

(3)

Summary

352

(1)

Exercises

353

(2)

Reason and Commitment

355

(4)

Open Rational Dialogue

355

(4)

Keynote Speech May 18 at Simpson College's 1996 Commencement

356

(1)

Jane Smiley

Study Questions

357

(2)

Index

359

Excerpts

Preface to the Second EditionWe had three purposes in mind when we wroteThinking Socratically.The first was to help our students, and all college students, become better thinkers--which for us means to engage, like Socrates, willingly and patiently in open rational dialogue. Since most students who take a course in critical thinking are first or second year college students, they are often still at what the cognitive psychologists callblack/white thinking.That is, they only see two sides to an argument, theirs, which they assume correct, and the other person's whom they assume to be wrong. We wanted to help them become open to the myriad other possibilities that exist between the two poles of an argument and to learn to engage in dialogue with others and themselves in ways that will help them find these other possibilities. When they finish this text, we hope they will have the ability and the "courage" that Jane Smiley speaks of in the last reading.Second, we want our student readers to learn that critical thinking is not an esoteric discipline but an important everyday skill like using a computer or driving a car. It helps to get you where you want to go. Hence, we have tried to use everyday examples from stories, newspapers, magazines, even philosophy, to show them these skills in action. Critical thinking cannot be taught without something to think critically about! Yet some textbooks try to do precisely that. We do not. We give them commonplace contexts that exemplify the skill or the need for the skill we are teaching. We think that the skills will be learned more easily and will be remembered when they can be seen in context.Finally, we seek to overcome the cynicism that many pseudosophisticated college students bring to the classroom. This is the cynicism that stems from the relatively little knowledge they have acquired, which has taught them, they think, that nothing can be proven correct or right. Therefore, they think, people can believe whatever they want to. No one can be proven wrong. We seek to overcome such cynicism with the pragmatic view that, even if no one "right way" can be proven to be the one true way, there is still a big difference among points of view and courses of action. Some beliefs and some actions are better than others. These are the beliefs and actions that make our lives healthier, happier, and more pleasant, and these can be demonstrated--through the kind of open rational argument that Socrates practiced. That Socratic model is very important to us. We start out with it and come back to it at the end. Of course, we prefer open rational dialogue with our friends but even open rational dialogue with our enemies is useful. After all, what is the alternative?The second edition is distinguished from the first by the addition of a significant number of new readings and by the placement of the readings after the expository material, rather than before. We hope students will see the connections we are making more clearly that way. We have also greatly increased our discussion of the items that normally appear in critical thinking textbooks. For example, we have expanded the material on deductive reasoning and included Venn diagrams as well. We have increased the number of informal fallacies we cover. We have added summaries at the end of each chapter. Finally, we have adopted more standard terminology in order to conform to that which students hear in other classes; e.g., "reasoning with probability" has become the standard "inductive reasoning." While we still think our old terminology was more apt, we find that faculty tend to use the more familiar terms, thereby leaving students more confused than enlightened. We hope you will find the changes helpful.The book is designed as a whole so that the lessons of epistemology learned in the beginning connect very closely with the lessons regarding morality at the end. It is a bi